Throughout the nation, there are aggregations of hazardous materials which are the subject of great concern. Some have been buried; some have been dumped into open drainage ways; others have been placed in drums which are rusting and leaking. Some of the contaminants are finding their way into both surface and ground water supplies, threatening the health of people both in the immediate areas in which such dumping occurs, and at considerable distance from their origin. Recent legislation has imposed severe restrictions on the movement and handling of such wastes; however, those which have been dumped in the past remain to be cleaned up.
Among the hazardous wastes which await effective methods of detoxification and/or disposal are salts of heavy metals which may be sufficiently soluble to leach into ground water supplies; oxidizing agents which pose the threat of explosion or fire if they come into contact with combustible materials; cyanide compounds; hazardous oxy-anions of metals and non-metals; and other hazardous substances which pose a threat in the environment.
Hazardous wastes which are listed by the Environmental Protection Agency, (Federal Register, May 19, 1980) and which are susceptible to treatment by the invention herein are listed in Table I below.